Photographic-plate rack.



No. 68|,658. Patented Aug. 27, IBM.

F. W. POTTER.

PHOTOGRAPNIO PLATE BACK. (A uuuu nu Doc. 14. 1900.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK \V. POTTER, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGUOR TO ROBERT A. KNIGHT, OF SAME PLACE.

PHOTOGRAPHlC-PLATE RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 681,658, dated August 27, 1901.

Application filed December 14, 1900. Serial No, 39,827. (No model.)

To all whom it may omwern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. POTTER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Photographic-Plate Racks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to photographic appliances, and particularly to a plate-washing rack, the object of .the invention being to provide a rack adapted to take photographic plates of various sizes and to hold them firmly by their edges while they are being washed; and the invention consists in the construction set forth in the following specification, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan view of a rack embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is an end view thereof; and Fig. 4 is a perspective View of one end of the rack, showing a slightly-modified construction of one part thereof. In Figs. 1, 21,{and 3 plates are shown in position in the rac Referring to the drawings, the frame of the rack is made, preferably, of a piece of wire bent up to form two rectangular parallel sides 1 and 2, which are united at their lower corners by the crosspieces 3 3, which preferably are integral with said sides 1 and 2. Midway between said sides and secured to said cross-pieces is a plate-supporting bar 4, which preferably is made of wire and is provided with corrugations 5, located in a vertical plane. This bar serves the double purpose of acting as a support for the plates 6 and as a stiffening-brace for the frame. On each of the sides 1 and 2 are pivotally supported frames 7 and 8, which are corrugated to correspond with the corrugations 5 of the bar 4; but the corrugations 9 in these frames are formed in a plane at right angles to those of said bar. and in the bar are so arranged one relative to the other that a plate standing in one of the corrugations on the bar 4 will when in a perpendicular position be engaged by opposite corrugations on the side frames. These corrugations may be made as coarse or as fine as The corrugations in the frames desired, according to the distance to be maintained between the plates. Between each end of the two oppositely-located side frames is a spring 10, which is adapted to draw the frames toward each other to such a degree that a plate of the smallest size may be firmly held between them, supported on the bar 4. The wider, and hence heavier, the plate may be the greater will be the tension under which the springs 10 will grasp its edges. While this washing-rack has been described herein as being constructed of wire, it is not my de sire to limit myself as to this particular construction, for the rack may be constructed of flat strips of suitable material, and the swinging frames 7 and 8 may instead of being of wire and corrugated, as described, be made of fiat strips, having indications formed thereon or recesses cut therein for receiving the edge of the plates. These minor changes,however, lie well within the scope of this invention.

In Fig.4 is shown a modification of the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 relating to the application of the spring. In said Fig. 4 if the side frames 7 and 8 are made of wire then the end of the part thereof which is looped around the frame at 11 may be carried down and its lower extremity hooked around one of the upright members of one of the rectangular sides 1 and Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. A photographic-plate rack for the purpose described consisting of two upright parallel sides, a plate-supporting bar located between said sides and substantially in the plane of the lower edge thereof, a side frame pivotally supported on each of said sides, means on said frames whereby plates engaged thereby may be maintained in separated relations, and a spring adapted to move said frames toward one an other,substantially as described.

2. A photographic-plate rack for the purpose described consisting of two upright parallel sides, a plate-supporting bar located substantially midway between said sides and about in the plane of the lower edge. thereof, and two swinging side frames provided with oppositely-located recesses for receiving the edges of the plates, and a spring for said frames adapted to force the latter against opposite edges of a plate located between them, substantially as described.

3. A photographic-plate rack consisting of two upright parallel sides, a bar located between said sides and adapted to support the lower edge of a plate, two side-swinging side frames, a spring for said frames adapted to 10 move them against opposite edges of a plate located between them, said bar and side frames having a series of-plate-reeeiving notches whereby a series of plates may be maintained in parallel planes and in separated relations, substantially as described.

FRANK W. POTTER.

Witnesses:

WM. H; OHAPIN, K. I. CLEMoNs. 

